Frankenset Page 26

Quick non-baseball related note before diving into the 26th page of my frankenset which includes cards 226-234. 

Now that it's officially November, I guess that means Christmas season has begun, or at least, at CVS it has given that my local store already had their holiday decorations aisle on full display right next to the 50% off Halloween candy. There really is no place quite like America.

Along with the end of October which just passed, the holidays are usually one of my favorite times of the year. Even if there is no live baseball, everyone just seems to be in a better mood around this time of the year. Plus, even without live games, we still have card shows, the COMC Black Friday Sale, and MLB specials to look forward to.

There are many other sports on TV as well that I could get interested in but none as much as baseball. My first choice would probably be Basketball since it's the sport I know best next to baseball, my fantasy team is in 1st place, and the Celtics were incredibly fun to watch last season.

And I still have the blog for all my baseball thoughts over the next 5 months (shivers) without baseball. Just like last year, I'll be using these posts to pass the time day by day, starting with page #26 of my frankenset.

#226 1989 Score Kevin Bass

I think spot number #226 was another example of one that I struggled to fill with an exciting card. Although I'm fond of the orange and purple color combination, the 1989 Score set isn't too dazzling, and the card lacks much personality, making it fairly average altogether. 

#227 2015 Topps Stadium Club Jon Singleton

Following a sub-par Astros card, a bold and colorful Astros card from 2015 Topps Stadium Club takes its place. Featuring the always photo-centric Stadium Club set, the brightness of the orange Houston Astros home jersey is not something you can miss, and neither is the photo quality this set has brought yearly since 2014.

#228 2001 Fleer Triple Crown Al Martin

Without the little bits of gold foil used for the important information across the front of the card, I could easily see this becoming another relatively boring card from the top row of this page of the frankenset. However, the gold adds a little bit of color, and the set does a fairly nice job of making a relatively simple set appeal more to those who see it.

#229 2002 Fleer Platinum Ben Grieve

One of the most underrated brands ever produced, especially by Fleer, Fleer Platinum lasted a couple of years beginning in I believe 2001. It served almost as Fleer's version of Topps Heritage with exciting retro-style designs, though I don't think any of them are based off any Fleer set in particular besides the first Platinum set made in 2001 paying homage to the 1st Fleer set back in 1981.

#230 2015 Topps Heritage Ben Revere

Although the set is one of the more simply-designed sets in Topps History, my feelings towards 1966 Topps are actually quite complicated. Whether it be the original set or the 2015 Topps Heritage remake, I typically find it difficult to become super intrigued by the set given how basic the design is and how, by today's standards, the photo quality in 2015 Topps Heritage is not very good.

#231 2011 Topps Heritage Chone Figgins

On the other hand, the 1962 Topps set is likely in my top 7 of favorite Topps sets ever made, and the Heritage remake in 2011 did the original set the justice it deserves. Even out of a 425-card base set full of all sorts of different cards, I recall Chone Figgins' cards being one of my favorites of the group, likely the reason why it ended up at spot #231 in the frankenset.

#232 1990 Score Sandy Alomar

I always thought 1990 Score was yet another example of a set that got lost among either an era of incredible products or an era of disappointing products. In this case, 1990 Score was produced right smack in the middle of the "junk wax era" and although it's not that incredible of a set, it's still better than a lot of what was being produced around the year 1990.

#233 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Ben Zobrist

If I had to give 1 year of this decade the title of "best year for baseball cards," it might just have to be 2011. The Flagship design was not too bad, not to mention excellent designs out of Allen & Ginter and Heritage. Gypsy Queen was just starting out and there were plenty of insert sets like 60 Years of Topps, fun sets like Lineage, all without overproducing anything unlike 2017, a year with far too many cards.

#234 1990 Topps Mariano Duncan

I'm also kind of a fan of the colorful 1990 Topps design as it was Topps' attempt to create a vintage-style design in a modern era. Though the checklist was far too large and it didn't necessarily honor the 60's and 70's the way I would've liked, it was better than some of the sets we'd see from Topps down the road, particularly in the mid-1990's just a few years later.